After the murder of two of Lansing’s local skateboarders by a drunken driver April 6, I have taken the liberty to inform everyone that East Lansing has decided not to donate money to the $400,000 project of building the Ranney Skate Park at Ranney Park.

The city of East Lansing would rather have skateboarders skating all over cement stairs and down the handrails, deteriorating the cement, marble and stone, than give the project any money toward the park.

There are basketball courts for basketball players and tennis courts for tennis players. All we skaters ask for is a place to skate where we will not get kicked out, arrested or - since the death of two skaters last weekend - killed.

It makes us sick that we have no place to skate and by this, we toil in other activities not so productive. We are outraged as a skating community that East Lansing will not support our cause, thus making skateboarders, rollerbladers and BMXers alike search all over town for a nice set of stairs to grind or a nice rail to slide regardless of the damage to the property.

This is a war, one in which we cannot afford to lose. It is evident by the mass amount of people who kick us out of places to skate that they are sick and tired of us ruining their property.

With the skate park being built, it would put an end to a lot of vandalism and give us skaters a place to go and practice the sport we have grown up loving. We cannot take this anymore and something must be done.

Justin Bennett
computer engineer sophomore